The Pen (Al-Qalam)
In the name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful
۞ Nun. By the pen and what the scribes write. 1 Thou art not, through the grace of thy Lord, mad. 2 You will certainly receive a never-ending reward. 3 And verily thou art of a high and noble disposition. 4 You will see, and they will see, 5 Who is distracted. 6 Verily, your Lord knows better, who (among men) has gone astray from His Path, and He knows better those who are guided. 7 Therefor obey not thou the rejecters 8 Their desire is that thou shouldst be pliant: so would they be pliant. 9 And do not obey every mean swearer, 10 the backbiter who goes about slandering, 11 Who hinders men from (doing) good, the transgressor, the iniquitous, 12 who is ignoble and besides all that, base-born; 13 It is because he is possessed of wealth and children 14 when Our revelations are recited to him, he says, "These are just ancient fables." 15 Soon We will brand him on the nose. 16 Indeed, We have tried them as We tried the companions of the garden, when they swore to cut its fruit in the [early] morning 17 But made no reservation, ("If it be Allah's Will"). 18 Then a visitation from thy Lord visited it, while they were sleeping, 19 and the garden was turned into a barren desert. 20 In the morning they called to one another, 21 "Go early to your tilth if you want to harvest the fruit!" 22 So they went off, whispering to one another, 23 'No needy person shall set foot in it today' 24 And they opened the morning, strong in an (unjust) resolve. 25 But when they saw it, they said: Lo! we are in error! 26 Nay! we are made to suffer privation. 27 The best among them said, “Did I not tell you, ‘Why do you not proclaim His purity?’” 28 They said, “Purity is to our Lord – we have indeed been unjust.” 29 Then they began to reproach one another. 30 They said, "O woe to us; indeed we were transgressors. 31 "It may be that our Lord will give us in exchange a better (garden) than this: for we do turn to Him (in repentance)!" 32 Such is the chastisement, and certainly the chastisement of the hereafter is greater, did they but know! 33